We seek power for the powerless….

Hameed Gul and his fight against American, Soviet and Indian imperialism

A section of the Social Media is jubilant on his death and the reasons for this misplaced joy are not difficult to ascertain; he was a living threat to American and Indian establishment who are known to control the media, Social Media including.

HUSSAIN SAQIB

Lt Gen Hameed Gul has passed away leaving behind a mourning family, an admiring nation, grateful Kashmiris and a legacy of his fight against the forces of occupation in Afghanistan and Indian-held Kashmir. He fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan using CIA, he fought India in Kashmir and Punjab and he fought the Americans when they occupied Afghanistan. He fought as a serving soldier, a spymaster and as an individual. His fight against the US made him controversial for his moral support to OBL and Taliban. He was even declared a terrorist by the Americans and a suspected killer by Pakistan’s slain politician, Benazir Bhutto.

Gul has always been on the wrong side of Pakistani rulers, civilian and military alike, whoever and whenever he thought were working against national interests. He never made any bones about meddling in political affairs as ISI chief. He admitted to have cobbled together Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) to pop up Nawaz Sharif as a political leader at the expense of BB, he planned Jalalabad Operation in 1989 which failed earning him the title of armchair strategist but his contributions far exceed his failure.

Gen Gul was the architect of Kashmir uprisings in late 80s and he made sure that the movement remains indigenous without across-the-border infiltration. He was also the architect of the Khalistan Movement to check Indian misadventures a la East Pakistan. He gave clear messages to brotherly country of Iran on its defense cooperation pact with India which was effectively anti-Pakistan. And finally, he was the most vocal and bitter critic of the USA for its indifference to Afghanistan post-Soviet defeat and its Afghanistan invasion in the aftermath of 9/11.

Although he had worked closely with the CIA during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when he was the ISI chief, he became passionately anti-American after the United States turned its back on Afghanistan following the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, as the United States had promised to help build a prosperous Afghanistan. He was further disconcerted when the USA began punishing Pakistan with economic and military sanctions for its secret nuclear program. The United States government included Hamid Gul’s name in a list of 4 former ISI officers for inclusion in the list of international terrorists that was sent to UN Secretary General, but China refused.

Not only Indians and the Americans, the Pakistani politicos were also his sworn enemies. On December 14, 2008 President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in an interview with Newsweek described Hamid Gul as a political ideologue of terror.

A section of the Social Media is jubilant on his death and the reasons for this misplaced joy are not difficult to ascertain; he was a living threat to American and Indian establishment who are known to control the media, Social Media including.